ReggaeWorksheet 4aSyncopation: playing reggae riffs

Here are two versions of a reggae-style riff. One contains a syncopation; the other does not. Each version is

presented in both stave notation and grid notation.

Look at the grids. If you put notes in weak (unshaded) boxes with spaces on one or both sides of them, you will create syncopation. If you look at the stave notation, you will see that in the syncopated version the "rst D note is a half beat earlier, pulling the start of this little group of notes forward, and creating syncopation.

With syncopation:

Without syncopation:

Play both versions of the riff, which are only slightly different. Make sure your playing shows the difference between them.